a concert of a lifetime.

Today we headed up to temple square and went to a very special concert.  A concert that only a dozen of us were invited to.

The person who put on the concert?

Why none other than our very own Grandma Kussee!

Grandma's birthday is in the month of June and Papa Kris (T's dad) planned a very special event for her.  He made the arrangements necessary for Grandma to play the organ at the tabernacle on Temple Square!  If there's one thing you should know about Papa Kris it's that he loves the women in his life a lot.  Especially Grandma Kussee.  It was a pretty special birthday gift for a mother from her son.  

T and I ended up getting to temple square about a half an hour early so we decided to roam the temple grounds and enjoy the beautiful flower beds and scenery around the House of the Lord.

We also finally figured out that this building is the Assembly Hall building!  We had both forgotten and T was excited to figure out what it was!  Obviously we need to spend a little more time on Temple Square and relearn the history of the church again.

Of course we had to take a picture of the SLC temple.  It's a tradition!

And the flowers!  The flowers were beautiful.  If I had a larger flower bed area at our duplex I would go crazy planting more flowers.  Or I would just hire the temple ground workers to come plant flowers. Then they might live longer.

T insisted that his "Pretty Girl" get a picture with the pretty flowers.  I think it was just an excuse to get the camera out of my hands so I would stop taking pictures of him.

This fountain always makes me smile when we walk past it.  When we were first dating, T and I came here with a group of singles from his singles ward to see the Christmas lights during the winter.  We both threw a penny over our shoulder and made wishes at this fountain.  T doesn't remember his wish. Mine was that I would marry him in the distant future.

Wishes really do come true.

And now for the real reason we went to temple square!  We met up with the Kuseee members of the family that could make it for the special event and waited outside door #1 of the tabernacle.  It was like we had backstage passes to a major concert and were waiting to be let in by security.

Brother Clay Christiansen (the organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) met us at the door at approximately 11:30 and let us in through the backstage area of the organ.  We came into the tabernacle  by the enormous pipes and into the choir seating where we could look out into the auditorium.

Grandma with Clay Christiansen!  The two of them talked about the organ for a little bit while the rest of us took our seats in the choir seating.

Those pipes are massive!  The intricate detailing around them is breathtaking.

Our famous organ-playing grandmother!  Among her selections she played were I Believe in Christ, America the Beautiful, and Each Life That Touches Ours For Good.

Brother Christiansen pulled out the stops for her while she played and the spirit in the room was phenomenal!  There's always a special feeling you get from the spirit when grandmas are around.  Today was absolutely no exception.  She made us cry with the beauty of her musical talent today.

At the end of her mini concert for us, she shared a tender moment with Papa Kris that teared us all up again.  We caught it all on video, but alas, it won't upload.

We all clamored over the chance to get a picture with grandma once she was done playing.  I think we're going need to get her to sign all of them!

{Grandma, Mama Becky, Papa Kris}

We had to get our own photo with grandma too!  Grandma even shared a few stories from the past with us about playing the organ.

When she was raising her kids, Grandma played the organ in their ward.  The kids usually sat by themselves since Grandpa was out and about doing his callings also.  When they would get disruptive or act up all Grandma would have to do was snap her fingers and they'd instantly sit up straight and be reverent again!  

Every so often while she would be playing when he was little, little Kris would go up to the organ while she was playing and accidentally step on one of the low notes and it would play during the song she was playing!  She'd look at him and tell him to "Knock that off!" and he'd get in trouble.  

I love stories that grandparents tell.  I love our heritage and the lives that Grandma and Grandpa Kussee  have lived.  There's nothing like a pair of good grandparents! 

We were literally close enough to the organ pipes that we could have reached up and almost touched them!  

Grandma and Grandpa used to live in Rochester, NY and some of their friends got to come watch Grandma with us.  That's dedicated friendship.

  

These two are pretty remarkable.  They're still completely mobile and as in love as they were when they were first married.  They don't have two separate recliners to sit in, they sit on the same sofa during movies and hold hands.  They still love to kiss (Grandpa said that will never die!) and flirt with each other.  Grandma still dresses fancy for Grandpa and she always has the most hip hairstyle every month.

They're the perfect example of where Tyler and I want to be in 50 years.  Still young and in love!

It was a beautiful morning spent with a beautiful, talented grandmother and family!